''Norske Løve'' was a ship with 36 cannons owned and operated by the

Danish East India Company The Danish East India Company () refers to two separate Danish-Norwegian chartered company, chartered companies. The first company operated between 1616 and 1650. The second company existed between 1670 and 1729, however, in 1730 it was re-founde ...

History

Faroe stamp 175 the church of torshavn - bell

The ship's bell is dated to 1704, although a ''Norske Løve'' was recorded as running a cargo of

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

for the

in the Indian Ocean in 1682. Similarly, a ''Norske Løve'' is recorded calling at the Danish colony of Tranquebar in 1690 and 1706, although this may have been one of the numerous Dano-Norwegian Navy vessels of that name. ''Norske Løve'' left

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

on 4 December 1707. She was hit by lightning on December 18. On the 19th, her master Roluf Meincke decided to cut the main mast, which brought the

mizzen mast The mast of a sailing ship, sailing vessel is a tall spar (sailing), spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median plane, median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, givi ...

down with it. Around noon the same day, a

breaker Breaker may refer to: Objects * A breaking wave on water, or a "breaker", a shallow over which waves break * Circuit breaker, an electrical overload switch * Breaker (hydraulic), a percussion hammer attached to an excavator People * Breaker ...

hit her, killing 14 men and damaging the ship further. On 31 December 1707, ''Norske Løve'' sank in Lambavík in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

. Around 100 men survived. Salvage of the ship began immediately, but a landslide during the night buried it, whence it has not been recovered. The ship's bell was removed, however, and subsequently used for Tórshavn Cathedral, where it still resides. A model of the ship was also constructed and hung as one of three votive ships within the church. (On the model, the name is spelled ''Nordishe Løwe''.) A model ship in the church of Eiði is supposed to be a copy of the model in Tórshavn.

Norska Løva in Faroese literature

A poem (folk song) about the event is commonly used accompanied with the Faroese chain dance in the Faroe Islands, it is written in Danish. The title is Norske Løve. The Faroese author Jógvan Isaksen has written a crime novel with the title ''Norska Løva'', published in 2010.ms.fo
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References

Shipwrecks in the North Sea Maritime incidents in 1707 Shipwrecks of the Faroe Islands Maritime incidents in the Faroe Islands {{ship-stub

History

Norska Løva in Faroese literature

See also

References